Hurricane Sandy creates headaches for DIA travelers

"Yeah, I'm really anxious to get there because you know last year when we had all the damage - what our constituents want is to see the leadership there," said State Rep. Nancy Munoz, (R) Summit, New Jersey.

Munoz is a state legislator representing more than 220,000 constituents in central New Jersey. She says last year when Hurricane Irene hit, her area was devastated with flooding.

"We've got all of our streams cleaned. We got our drains cleaned. We're trying to work hard to be prepared because last year was really quite a disaster," Munoz said.

Sunday night she is stuck in Colorado after spending Parents Weekend at the University of Denver with her son and 85-year-old mother. Munoz waited for about an hour with hundreds of other stranded passengers looking for any options.

"So, I'm hoping to get within six hours of my house, so I can get home," Munoz said.

She said she spent Sunday morning talking with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has already declared a state of emergency in preparation for the landfall of Hurricane Sandy.

"Obviously, this is a serious storm that will affect most of the East Coast from North Carolina to New England," Gov. Christie said. "It will make landfall in New Jersey. What that means for us is that of the states that will be impacted by this storm, we appear to be taking the brunt of it."

Munoz says she wants to be in a position to help.

"We have contact with the board of public utilities. We have access to the electric companies," Munoz said. "We can make those connections that other people can't and so I really want to get back because I need to."

Other travelers going overseas who have connecting flights in New York or New Jersey are trying to circumvent the entire area.

Steve Houston is trying to get home to Belfast, Ireland from Denver.

"My biggest concern was that I would leave Denver, get to New York, and then get stranded in New York and be sitting there in the middle of the hurricane," Houston said.

Ravi Batra is flying to Europe. He is frustrated because he feels that he is running out of connecting options.

"There's a definitive alternative routing which will bypass the entire scenario surrounding Hurricane Sandy and (the airlines) should be doing this," Batra said.

As of Sunday night, about 50 flights from Denver to the east coast had been canceled. If you are flying that direction, you are advised to check your flight status first, before heading to the airport. You can do so at www.flydenver.com.

After unsuccessful attempts at trying to get into Pittsburgh, Hartford, and Boston, Munoz says she will try to fly into Columbus, Ohio and drive nine hours to New Jersey.

"It's frustrating cause you almost could drive from here faster than you could wait for a flight," Munoz said.